Media releases
Westpac collaborates with start-up surgical partners to provide financial management solutions to medical practices
7 February, 2017
Westpac today announced that it has signed an agreement with start-up and recent winner of the Westpac Blue Chilli Innovation Challenge, Surgical Partners.
Surgical Partners offers a financial management platform that integrates practice management systems with accounting systems, facilitating digital bank reconciliation and the real-time division of Doctors’ billings into practice share and Doctor share.
The partnership brings together Surgical Partners’ financial automation solutions and established partner network with the scale and depth of Westpac’s banking and financial services offering to the healthcare industry.
Both companies will work together to accelerate the adoption of Surgical Partners’ integration, reconciliation, and Doctor billings technology. The partnership will also foster collaboration on complementary digital solutions for longer term innovation across the industry.
Commenting on the partnership National Head of Healthcare, Leon Berkovich said: “We surveyed our client base and there was a consistent message that medical practices suffered pain points around reconciliation and medical practitioner distributions. Through this collaboration with Surgical Partners we are combining our expertise to fill the gaps and deliver tangible solutions for medical practices.”
Marcus Wilson, CEO of Surgical Partners said: “Westpac holds a leadership position in healthcare financial services, and is determined to deliver innovative digital solutions to their clients. Their powerful distribution network is a natural partner for our financial management solutions for healthcare practices.”
The first Westpac customer to use the new technology is laser eye surgery centre, Focus Eye Centre.
"Focus Eye Centre has been at the forefront of computer usage in medical practice recognising the benefits in efficiency and cost reduction that information technology can provide. The Surgical Partners system automates most of our complex financial reconciliation process saving time, eliminating tedious transcription and providing greater accuracy," said Dr Margaret Kearns, Director, Focus Eye Centre.
The 2016 Innovation Challenge attracted around 250 applications from start-ups and entrepreneurs across Australia. Surgical Partners was a winner of a $40,000 cash prize and mentoring from Blue Chilli and Westpac.
About Surgical Partners
Surgical Partners is the Financial Management Platform for Medical Practices and their Doctors, integrating transaction data with all of the major online accounting packages, and splitting the Doctor’s billings into practice share, and Doctor share, in real time. The Surgical Partners mobile app shows Doctors their real-time Billings share, in the palm of their hand, rather than waiting for a static invoice at the end of the contracted payment cycle.
Users of the platform can manage their practice with live financial reports in the accounting package, eradicating data entry and other manual financial workflows. This results in substantial administrative & accounting savings, dramatically tighter financial controls, and improved financial engagement and retention of Practitioners. Surgical Partners operates across Medical disciplines in both Australia and New Zealand.